Nationalism: A nod or a no-no?

“Dad, what’s a globe?” Ken asked.

“It is the representation of Earth on a basketball-sized sphere.” John replied, taking out a globe from the wardrobe, “Look how beautiful it is!”

Ken’s eyes widened with wonder as he took the globe in his hand, “It’s so blue!” he said.

“That’s the ocean right there. Look at the shapes here; they are continents. Don’t they look nice too?” John asked, trying to arouse Ken’s attention.

“They look nice. But who drew these ugly lines? There are so many!” Ken looked repulsed by the border lines of countries, “Did God draw them?”

John was silent for a moment. Then he replied:

“Son, these lines segregate people, restrict freedom, and create wars. God would not do that to man. We did it to ourselves.”

An Evolutionary Trait

Humans are social beings. Primordial men survived and thrived as groups. They at once gave primitive men identity and protection. An indispensable quality for the survival of a prehistoric human is allegiance to the group. Thus the tendency is innate in us.

Though millenniums have passed, habits of our forefathers have not died off from us. We still identify ourselves with some group or the other. Ethnic, linguistic, religious, and political groups form our identity now. Nationalism is an extreme form of such group identity.

Don’t get me wrong; identifying with a country is not bad. Patriotism creates a sense of belonging and comradery. It inspires a public spirit that brings people from different walks of life together. Moreover, civic duties create a sense of social responsibility. When each works for the collective good, it paves the way for social welfare.

But we are not to forget that nationalism should be based on philanthropy. Love for our nation should not be measured by hatred towards all others. For instance, being an American does not make you liable to hate all Russians or immigrants. The borders of our country should not limit our love towards humanity.

Dangers of ultra-nationalism

Nationalism without philanthropy becomes blind. It creates fissures within the country as nationalism can mean different things to different people. One can be a militant nationalist with fanatic feelings towards the nation. He might deem those who don’t share his fanaticism as anti-nationals. In many parts of the world, we see instances of such labeling. This is an alarming situation.

Dangerous still is when a government advocates ultra-nationalism. Once such a government achieves sovereign power, it can leverage militant nationalism to achieve its ends. Those who protest against it are labeled as anti-national. A free press is condemned as sedition, critical voices are silenced with force, and minorities are ostracized to appease the majority. Even history is bent into unrecognizable form to fit the narrative of the propagandist politicians.

“Nationalism is an infantile disease. It is the measles of mankind”

Albert Einstein

Glorifying ethnic supremacy, another trait of militant nationalism, can cause evils like segregation of population, subjugation of minorities, and in its dreariest form, holocaust. The curious part is that those who hail the culture and wisdom of the land are mostly unknowledgeable of it. They have never taken the pain to study native philosophy—which advocates all-encompassing love—but insult other cultures in a vain attempt to glorify their own.

Impending Doom

“Nationalism is power hunger tempered by self-deception”

George Orwell

After a period of calm, world history is swinging back like a pendulum to the pre-world-war-2 era. Ultra nationalism and majoritarianism have replaced patriotism. Democracies now value identity politicians and their gimmicks more than virtuous leaders and their all-encompassing ideologies. People like Hitler are clinching power by hailing the nation’s supremacy and leveraging majoritarian sentiments.

Before getting enchanted by the melodies of these malign pied pipers, let us take a moment to reflect on where they are leading us. Only chaos, destruction, and bloodshed await us at the end of the dark tunnel of hatred.

Let our nationalism unite us amidst our differences, sidestep the ideology of hatred, and invoke respect for other nations and cultures.

Thank you for reading. Please post your thoughts below.